MONOPOLY OF TRANSPORTATION. 599 



represents water, get all. The Cotton Belt Route of our 

 own State (Arkansas) which recently wiped out a million 

 dollars of debt, is a fair illustration. 



An eminent writer says: "Two billion dollars repre- 

 sents fully the real cost of the roads. ' ' 



The Chicago Grocer says: "The president of one of 

 our longest trunk lines believes that fares from New York 

 to Chicago might be reduced to $2. He says: * We often 

 carry hogs from Chicago to New York, for $i apiece, and 

 feed them on the way, too. Yes, we have to unload them 

 twice and feed them, and transport their keepers from 

 Chicago to New York, at $i apiece. Now, men load and 

 unload themselves. Fifty men can get into a car. So, I 

 tell you that we can carry passengers from New York to 

 Chicago for $2 apiece and make money and for $i apiece, 

 provided we can carry a full train. n 



If we take these figures as a just rate for passenger 

 transportation, we have the fare reduced to % cent per mile. 

 The average rate on all the roads in the United States is a 

 fraction less than 2 ^ cents per mile. The aggregate receipts 

 on all the roads for passenger traffic, for the year 1886, was 

 #212,000,000. This would indicate an extortion of $187,- 

 000,000 on passenger traffic alone, for one year. If, 

 however, we calculate the fare at four times what this 

 railroad president said he could afford to carry them at, or 

 i cent per mile, we still have an overcharge on passenger 

 fares for the yea* above indicated, of over $100,000,000. 



"On page 652, Vol. 2, 'Transportation to the Seaboard,' 

 we find: 'Taking the figures of the quotations of the 28th 

 as our standard, and we may say it costs 39 cents to send a 

 bushel of wheat from St. Louis to New York. This is 

 12.4 mills per ton, per mile, for 1,043 miles, on the 

 cheapest kind of freight (except coal), known to commerce, 

 hauled the maximum distance, with the greatest profit to 

 the company. " 



